


Facing the storm

by Illidria



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Wish-fic, a hint of romance, celebration-fic, through the times, what even is tagging?!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 10:43:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13973373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illidria/pseuds/Illidria
Summary: He hated the new cub with a passion. She was snarky and stubborn, not to mention a good few ranks higher than him. But the General thought her capable and as such, he started to think......celebratory fic for a milestone





	Facing the storm

**Author's Note:**

> Hey nonny,
> 
> here is the fic you wished for Buccaneer slowly growing to feel more for Olivier than just respect and loyalty! Thank you for sending in this wish and I really hope you'll like it!
> 
> And to you all: Thank you for your love and support, without all of you this wouldn't have been possible! <3<3<3

"On the left!"

He barely registered the single voice against the wind, though the groan of those walking through the storm with it reached his ears. Made out shapes in the flurry of snow, a singing kind of sound heard.

The wind whipped around his ponytail and he barely caught a glint, before more than half of said ponytail fell to the snow below.

He roared.

Dodged a blade that seemed to materialize out of thin air, stepped back, feeling in his bones that this would be a troublesome cub. Those at its back shouting about him being a bear and other such nonsense, the grin that usually manifested on his face not coming. Only rage coursing through him, his own boot pushing the remains of his braid deeper into the snow, the other half of his hair now whipping about his face wildly.

Blocked an attack from the cub with the help of his gun, pushing it back, creating space.

And when suddenly the snow let up and the wind died down. When the other cubs came into view, almost frozen solid and with fear in their eyes, only then did he see her. Blonde hair hanging down, full of snow and ice, a pale face red from the cold. A sabre in gloved hands, her whole body heaving.

His introduction more a bellow now, than words.

"I'm 2nd Lieutenant Buccaneer! Follow me to Briggs!"

Grumbled all the way up the mountain that troublesome felt like an understatement.

* * *

"Right at the wrist. The General will have automail fitted to him, but wants him transferred, too."

He did something pretty much uncharacteristic when letting his fork sink, even though his brow shot up at the same time.

"Okay, now tell me slowly, what happened again?!"

Warrant Officer Ewing took a deep breath.

"You heard about the guys sneaking into Major Armstrong’s quarters, right?"

Nodded affirmative to that.

Several had broken into her quarters at night, wanting to chat her up and surely more. Most of the Forts soldiers thought of the tries of their fellow soldiers as disgusting, but as of yet nobody had stood up to it either. A week after her arrival the first man had slipped from his barrack, nobody noticing was the word of mouth, getting a sabre to his thigh. Another two weeks later someone had gotten his arm broken by her. And these were only the extreme cases, as many soldiers made the wolf-whistles follow her wherever she went.

"Well, Scholz tried it again yesterday, Private Henschel tried to stop him and has a broken nose now, by the way. Got through the locks on her door, where she supposedly warned him. Went in further of course, he has always been a little dense. And then _snip_ , his hands on the floor and he's screaming loud enough to wake the complete hallway up!"

He was nodding again, his fork again travelling between mouth and plate steadily. Spoke between two mouthfuls of mashed potato.

"And?!"

"And, Payen said that she's allowed to kill the next intruder and that anybody that treats her like anything less than a decorated soldier again, will suffer for it!"

Buccaneer snorted.

"Nobody treats her like a decorated soldier! What does he want to do, relocate the Fort?!"

The voice at his back making his considerably shortened hair stand up, turning his posture rigid.

"No, but I'll have it hammered into you by her, that you are to treat Major Armstrong with respect!"

He saluted, squirming under the Generals gaze until he let them off the hook. Spotted Armstrong on the other side of the mess hall, sitting by herself.

Not even looking at them.

* * *

"Ouch, that _hurt_!"

His body connected with the mat beneath him, the thud almost drowned out by the shouting of the men around them.

"Now come on Buccaneer, she weighs as much as your arm!"

"Show the lad, she's barely half your size!"

Felt the grins, got to his feet and straightened quickly.

Raised his arms in defence just in time for her punch, sure that this one would leave a deep bruise. Dodged her next attack, the woman not even thinking of relenting, throwing a punch himself.

Major Armstrong seemingly vanishing out of sight, their fight lasting so long now that he could barely tell how much time must've passed. Felt her bare feet push at his legs, toppling him again.

This time she was upon him faster, her underarm pressed into his throat, body on top of his.

The men around them were howling, but he could only see her blue eyes this close up, cold and focused on him, her mouth a thin line. There was no storm, no hate, nothing but indifference.

Tapped out with the realisation that she couldn't care less about winning and that there'd be plenty of bruises to tend to tomorrow.

* * *

"She's good."

The table silenced, head-engineer Meyers stared at by all of them, feeling their bewilderment. And got angry at that.

"What, just because your easily bruised egos cannot work past her being a woman she's a bad soldier? Or is it because she didn't let you lot fuck her? I'm telling you now, we had her in the research-department for months now, and she's a hard worker and quick thinker. If your minds are too fucking narrow to work with her, great, but don't go around and bad-mouth someone that threw you onto the gym-mat time and time again!"

Meyers getting up and taking his tray at that, stomping through the mess-hall with more than just their table looking after him. Watched together with plenty of people, how the man sat down by the blonde Major, sitting by herself as usual. Her look was close to startled.

Ewing next to him huffed.

"Probably blew him!"

The others around him snickered.

He didn't

* * *

"This is bullshit!"

He looked at her, pale legs swinging while she sat on the gurney, while he was blocking the doorway.

"The doc's just doing a check-up. You've been out in the cold, in direct combat, she..."

Her eyes fixed on him, shutting him up effectively.

General Payen had made her his adjutant a few months ago, had forced her to become more and more involved with the other soldiers at the Fort. And just a few hours ago she'd saved his whole troops live, killing of a bunch of Drachmans alone and armed only with a knife

“I wasn’t injured, so this is bullshit! She should look at you, you’ve been out on patrol for two whole days! You’ve been holed up with your squad in these temperatures!”

And of all things possible, though aware that he’d stopped hating her a while ago, respect bloomed inside of him. A laugh escaping him too, her angry face changing to one of bewilderment.

The words tumbling from her mouth seemingly before she could hold them back.

“Fuck, the guys at the research-level were right! You’re a weird one!”

Laughed even louder at that.

* * *

“I missed you in the mess today.”

Had not knocked at General Payens door, their boss finally showing signs of his age, having retired early according to the hall-guard. More and more duties he’d been piling onto his adjutant, so much that the General was not even involved with granting leave or ordering supplies anymore.

Put the covered tray right on top of the paperwork the old man tended to leave for her.

“1st Lieutenant, these are important papers, you can’t just…”

Lifted the lid off, the smoked elk, usually panned by all but the last thing he could get, shutting her up. The audible grumble of her stomach went hand in hand with her grabbing the fork.

He talked while she ate.

“Payens running you into the ground.”

Blue eyes upon him, Lt. Colonel Armstrong having stopped braiding her hair a little while ago.

“He’s not giving me more than I can handle. But with the fox at ground-level today I’ve been held up.”

Grunted, eyes narrowing.

“Some of the soldiers giving you grief again?”

They’d stopped a while ago, department for department. She’d thrown those that only understood the language of the tough on the ground in the gym, the others she pulled to her side with hard work and strong ideals. Was one of them since she’d rescued them from the Drachmans, sported a paw now, like they all did.

Blond tresses shaking, the fork held delicately in gloved hands, not matching the huge bites being wolfed down.

“They don’t dare to since they’ve seen me fight and even less since I’m the one in charge of vacation.”

Laughed at her answer, something she so easily made him do, though her furrowed brows spoke of puzzlement. Was taken with how she spoke past a full mouth, not a care in the world for the manners he’d once tried to tease her with.

“You bring me food because you want a long weekend in the city, don’t you?”

Grinned at her, her groan mixed with a burp.

* * *

“Dang girl, when I see you I feel the butterflies in my stomach!”

Her gaze cold when she turned to the tall man, brows slightly risen.

“Sure your appendix is fine?”

Their table laughed upon this exchange, most of the bar around them too. Buccaneer had to give it to the guy though, he did not give up easily.

“No honey, you are magnificent, it makes me feel…”

She shot in between, trying to squeeze past the guy. Buccaneer felt tenseness in some of the men, readiness to fight with her should it be needed.

“It’s definitely your appendix dude, go to the doctors.”

It was an impressive display of her prowess when she let go of her beer, jutting two fingers into the guys stomach with a quick motion and then catching her bottle again with the same hand. The guy stumbling back, holding his stomach, groaning.

Her faux worry again making their table laugh.

“See, I told you!”

Sat down with them again, drinking her beer and slyly sliding a slip of paper with a number over to Ewing.

Buccaneer knew that the guy would be fine again in an hour, had learned this trick from her amongst several others. She’d become a strong part of the Fort over the years, had taught them many tricks from her special-forces training after a bit of pleading. And even though she was a full-fledged Colonel by now, she was still as willing to risk her own ass for their sake as always. He liked to think that if it ever came to her and the General being of differing opinion, the men would follow her.

An ass liked by the whole of North City seemingly, even if she never replied positively to any of the advances she got.

A kick to his shin pulled him out of his thoughts.

“What’s on your mind Buccaneer?”

He just smirked and raised his bottle towards her.

* * *

“Hey, wake up!”

After many more minutes she did, huddled in a corner of the room, breathing hard.

He’d passed her quarters on hallway-watch, had heard her screams. Night-terrors weren’t uncommon and this one sounded so bad, he couldn’t just leave.

“I…am…I…”

She stuttered, something that startled him deeply.

Colonel Armstrong was a force to be reckoned with, steadfast and fierce. The dream must’ve been really bad to shake her up so much. To leave her shivering in the corner of her own room, against the heat of the well-stocked furnace and several layers of warm clothing.

“Get on the bed, you’ll get cold down there on the floor.”

Shakily she stood up, while he tried to find signs for hypothermia.

Ice had broken underneath her today, of a lake so long buried under snow that nobody remembered its water ever glistening in the sun. She’d sustained a plethora of small cuts on her calf, but way worse had been the undertow pulling her away from them, her head underwater often. The temperatures too low for anybody’s liking.

And while she walked to the bed, so very unsteadily, a question escaped him.

“You don’t like your head to get underwater, am I right?”

Blue eyes on him, for the first time since he entered the room truly seeing him. And in them something was welling up, not tears, but a memory. Probably the same that had her in its grip only minutes ago.

Without thinking about it he closed the distance between them and hugged her to him.

She did not fight it, only shook.

* * *

“Hey, stay with me!”

The sharp command followed by an equally sharp pinch to his ear, pulling his gaze back to his surroundings.

Images assaulting him in quick succession.

His troop. The landscape. The outpost. Emergency flares. A gunfight. A flash. Pain. Taunts from a yellow-teethed man. Drachman ringing in his ears. More guns and pained screams.

_She._

“Wha…?”

Was not able to form a coherent sentence, barely understood hers.

“Only a bit more until we’re at the Fort Captain! I did not go against orders to get you out of there, just for you to give up now!”

Set his feet into the snow more forcefully after that, not wanting to disappoint her.

She’d come for him after all, believed in him. Against orders floated through his head, but also laughter and a paw and appendixes. Did not recognize that the thing before them was the Fort, nor did he understand why she suddenly pushed him.

Was busy with the pain in what remained of his right arm, a popping noise all around him. This soon ceasing though, strong hands turning him around in the snow, the cold licking at the back of his head.

“Look at me Captain!”

Her orders he always followed.

His gaze zooming in and out still, though when she pulled the white cap from her head, blonde hair falling freely, blue dancing somewhere within, he felt at peace.

Smiling up inanely at her, before going under again.

* * *

“Aren’t you ought to be in the cells?!”

Barely did Buccaneer recognize his own voice, coughed once for good measure, her gaze turning angry.

“And shouldn’t you’ve been in your bunk instead of a drachman outpost?”

He mixed his laugh with another cough and pointed a half-hearted finger-gun at her.

“Got me.”

Took in how she sat on the other infirmary-bed, curled up in a blanket, a book in hand. It was quite clear the she hadn’t been sleeping, sitting too upright for that, the feeling of having been watched by her sending _something_ through him. Was a bit embarrassed too, though the details were fuzzy still.

“Why didn’t Payen arrest you?”

His question in the darkness making her hand stop on the way to the doc’s bell.

Eyes boring into him, fiercely.

“Because I was successful!”

The sentence one he had to comprehend for a while first, pain muddling his mind, the arrival of the doctor, the medication flowing through his IV. And even when he could think clearer again after a while, the details of his imprisonment were of no interest to him. She a lot more though.

“Where you hurt rescuing my sorry ass?”

Did not elaborate on his self-abasement, instead showing him a bandage at her leg, sticking it out of the blanket only momentarily. Did not say anything either, which had him grunt, and after a bit more silence, speak.

“So you’re here to watch me? Make sure I don’t flee?”

All the times he’d done that for her running through his head, according to their doc Olivier Armstrong the most difficult patient she’d ever had.

Armstrong just shaking her head, speaking with something like disdain in her voice, looking into the direction of the docs office.

“It’s rather you keeping me from running off again.”

Laughed again, coughing alongside it for good measure.

* * *

“These are your first cubs then, Brigadier General?”

He could hardly believe the past few months, the late General Payen having fallen in battle, appointing her to lead in his stead. And she’d been up to the challenge, had led them to victory the day of their former commander’s death, had led them to avenge the man too.

And in turn they’d thought for her to remain as their leader, respect and loyalty earned over such a long time at the Wall.

General Armstrong sitting on the very edge of it, so close to the depths he despised so much, sighing into the wind.

“Puppies from Central I suppose. It’ll take a lot of work to whip them into shape.”

Her voice even, calculated, so unlike when they’d sung down below for their General.

“You made a presentable troop out of us Sir, these cubs will be no problem.”

Silence stretching for a little while, the wind cold, the General hugging her sword to her. A slight flurry of snow starting to fall, which had her turn towards him, an equally slight smile gracing her lips.

“Captain Buccaneer, what do you think about resurrecting an old tradition?”

The wind picking up his braid, having it dance through the snow, black and glossy and longer than before. A grin coming to his face, wide and toothy, while he felt something in his stomach drop, something in his head, too.

Saluted her, walking down several flights of stairs, tightening his coat around him and flexing his automail-fingers. There were cubs coming to their fortress and his Queen had send him to greet them according to their laws.

His step only stilling for the tiniest of moments, his smile widening another fraction, when realization hit.

Walking on then, right into the storm.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors. The goal of it is to make commenting easier for readers and to increase the feedback writers get. As such, I invite you to leave:
> 
> _Short comments_   
>  _Long comments_   
>  _Questions_   
>  _Constructive criticism_   
>  _Reader-reader interaction_   
>  _extra-kudos as <3_
> 
> I cherish all comments, weather they be long or short, even only one word makes me squeal with happiness after all. And if you’re seeing this fic ten years after I published it, don’t worry: Old or new, I’ll still love what you left me to read <3 I answer to all comment btw, though it sometimes takes me a day or two. Should you not want me to answer, just write _whisper_ in front of it.
> 
> I thank you for reading this fic of mine through to the end. As I said, I appreciate all comments and kudos and should you want to get into direct contact with me [this is my tumblr](http://illidria.tumblr.com/). There you can get into discussions with me, or even send in wish-fics.  
> Happy reading and thank you <3


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